latecomer

last night we began our survey by having a bbq at our headquarters. it was a beautiful evening and we had friends and project volunteers join us for some grilling. it's always a fun way to start out - speculating about what the night will bring - we also talked about the bumper crop of turtles we got last night! we got our ATVs loaded up and headed out around 10 pm. the tide was still going out, so we figured there would be some time before the first turtle. I was surprised to see so little activity - as I rode along to the south, there were no crawls at all, just a wide clear swath of beach, bright in the moonlight. the moon is coming up to full moon phase this week, so it's super bright (which reduces our reliance on night vision) and the brightness makes everything seem eerie and still. but it's really the best time to be out there. the waves are still good, very low tidal amplitude and no bad scarps - really easy riding. by the time I got to the inlet at 11 pm, I had only seen a couple of people and no sign of any turtle. I waited there until nearly midnight before heading back up. now there were just a couple of loggerheads making an attempt, and a couple more tucked well into their pits. on our second pass, Sara and I again came up empty for leatherbacks, but the loggerheads were starting to come in full force. loggerheads often arrive at night just before the leatherbacks do and so we prepared ourselves. But with the number of turtles that showed up last night, we wondered if any would come in at all. we were not disappointed however, after I left the beach for home at 2:30 am, chris took over and he and sara found one new turtle nesting in Carlin Park about 3:30 am. I found out about this turtle this morning when I woke up and checked my phone messages. I had one text message from chris that said 'new turtle'. the time stamp was 3:29 am. I usually wake up when he sends me these messages but I guess I was sleeping hard by that time! we'll report on the new turtle's name when we get one figured out for her. we're always collecting more names for the list, so keep sending them in!